But this week in Bournemouth surely Dylan seemed poised for triumph

But this week in Bournemouth, surely, Dylan seemed poised for triumph. His new album, Time Out of Mind, shows his artistry at an unsettling peak. When he was last in Britain, too, only two years ago, he was a revelation, his once-fractured voice reborn. But as the ageing faithful filed in for another session, they knew Dylan’s infamous contrariness could send all their hopes crashing down In the event, his perversity was subtle He disappointed in giving us what he thought we wanted

There were no frills to his intentions.

He walked on and blasted through “Absolutely Sweet Marie” without a pause. What was immediately clear was that his voice was at its strongest for years, and his band as drilled and flexible as he could have wished. By its closing track, the music has become static, not moving at all. In the words, Dylan sings of loves lost when he was young, hurts he thought he had escaped, an America that had vanished before he was born. It’s a description of the world Bob Dylan lives in now when he’s not touring It’s a place worse than anyone could have guessed It’s a record made by a man in limbo. In 1995 he put aside his shades and guitar, swivelled his hips, touched and talked to his audience. Witnesses from Patti Smith to Elvis Costello declared their awe All that was missing was a new song Now his new album, Time Out Of Mind, gives us 11 His fans longed for it to be his real revival, at last.

It isn’t that.Time Out Of Mind isn’t an end to Dylan’s invisible decade, but a product of it It explains, at last, where he went and what it did to him. His own notes gave a clue to what his project had become:”Learning to go forward by turning back the clock… firing a few random shots at the face of time.”Even on stage, it seemed, Dylan at last knew what he had to do. Having reduced himself to the level of troubadour, it seemed that he was now ready to sing the only songs he still felt to be true; songs he might have sung when he first began, when he was happy.The next year’s World Gone Wrong cut deeper still into his state of mind. Its old songs were of death and despair, redemptive emotions. Its sleeve contained a startling, direct communication from Dylan, a series of angry, allusive interpretations of the songs.